You are in: Caribbean
Change location

You are here

Book > Textbooks > Child Development
Child Development From Infancy to Adolescence
Share
Share

Child Development From Infancy to Adolescence
An Active Learning Approach

Fourth Edition
January 2027 | SAGE Publications, Inc
Download flyer
Child Development from Infancy to Adolescence, Fourth Edition by Laura Levine and Joyce Munsch provides a chronological, research-based exploration of child development from infancy through adolescence. Blending the latest findings with culturally inclusive perspectives, the book emphasizes applied understanding through active learning activities and real-world examples. Readers gain a deeper understanding of developmental processes across childhood while learning how research connects to everyday experiences and contemporary issues. Designed to support engagement and critical thinking, this edition helps students build a strong foundation in child development and apply key concepts to real-world contexts.
Key features
KEY FEATURES:
  • A hallmark active learning approach engages students in personal, real-world applications of research and theory throughout each chapter.
  • Chapter-opening Test Your Knowledge assessments, revisited within the chapter, help students address common misconceptions about the field.
  • Journey of Research sections illuminate how research evolves and informs new ideas on key child development topics.
  • Active Learning print and video content demonstrates a wide range of activities, from actions students can try themselves to interactions with infants, children, and adolescents.
  • Critical thinking questions at the end of each section prompt students to apply and integrate what they’ve read in order to expand their understanding of the material beyond memorization.

Numerous topics have been added, updated, or expanded throughout the book. The following list highlights some of the most important ones, but there are many others in each chapter.

Chapter 1

·       New Active Learning: Social Policy Affecting Children and Adolescents

·       New topic: Social media as a developmental context

·       Revised information on the characteristics of healthy communities

Chapter 2

·        New topics:

o   Evolutionary developmental psychology

o   Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST)

o   Culture and attachment theory

·       New Journey of Research: Contributions by theorists from many backgrounds

Chapter 3

·       Updated information about

o   Stress in childhood and epigenetic changes

o   The effectiveness of treatments to reverse epigenetic changes

o   Intergenerational epigenetic changes

o   New breakthroughs in gene therapy

·       New topic: Polygenic scores

Chapter 4

·       Substantial update and revision of the information on

o   Drug use during pregnancy

o   Endocrine disruptors

o   Changes in marital satisfaction following the birth of a child

Chapter 5

·       New and updated information on

o   The impact of breastfeeding on cognitive development

o   The benefits of breastfeeding to the mother and infant and breastfeeding rates, including a global comparison

o    Sleep training versus the cry-it-out method when infants wake up

o   Autism spectrum disorder diagnosis based on dsm-5 tr

o   Early identification of ASD, including the CDC app for tracking early milestones

 

Chapter 6

·       New topics

o    Development of implicit memory for actions and emotions in infants

o   Infants learning the “music” of the language they are hearing

o   Importance of turn-taking in conversations between adults and infants

o   The effects of background TV

·       New research on

o   A lack of evidence for theory of mind in infants

o   Importance of connection between Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area for language

Chapter 7

·       New Journey of Research on day care and infant attachment to parents

·       New and updated information on

o   Security of attachment and response to stress

o   Attachment to fathers

o   Custodial grandparents

o   Infant adoption

o   Maternal employment

o   The impact of divorce on infants

Chapter 8

·       New and updated information on

o   Early preference for a thin body

o   Developmental coordination disorder and the cerebellum

o   Effects of eating ultraprocessed foods

o   New treatments for peanut allergies

o   New treatments for lead exposure

o   The prevalence of autism, its diagnostic criteria, and treatment and services for children

Chapter 9

·       New information on

o   Brain development and performance on conservation tasks

o   Relation between attention and impulse control in head start and college enrollment

o   Long-term effects of child-initiated education

o   Factors that influence emergent literacy

o   Helpfulness of using finger counting to learn arithmetic

o   Effects of neighborhood poverty level on cognitive development

·       Updated information about SES differences in children’s language environment.

 

Chapter 10

·       New topics

o   The biological approach to gender development

o   Media use and social-emotional development in young children

·       New and updated information on

o   Resilience in children experiencing homelessness

o   Autobiographical memory and self-awareness

o   Self-socialization of gender identity

o   Importance of empathy and theory of mind in moral development

o   Effects of inductive discipline

o   Prevalence of corporal punishment in schools and of spanking at home

o   Effects of parental hostility and intrusive control

Chapter 11

·       New and updated information on

o   The use of human growth hormone in childhood

o   The trajectory of ADHD into adulthood

o   Changes to the food pyramid

o   Ways to treat childhood diabetes

o   The debate about teaching cursive writing

o   Children in the natural world

 

Chapter 12

·       New topics

o   AI in the classroom

o   Cellphone bans in schools

o   Sternberg’s theory of adaptive intelligence

o   Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory of intelligence

o   Long-term effects of the COVID epidemic

o   State laws requiring the use of phonics to teach reading

o   Difficulties with teaching reading comprehension

·       Updated information on

o   State laws concerning retention of students with low reading ability in the third grade and their effects on student achievement

 

 

Chapter 13

·       New topics:

o   Media use and peer relationships

o   When fear is fun

o   Effects of parental death

·       Updated information on

o   Changes in self-esteem in middle childhood

o   Effectiveness of different types of praise for raising self-esteem

o   Violent video games and aggression

o   Long-term risks of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder

o   Effects of after-school self-care

o   Risk factors and protective factors around divorce

o   School bullying policies

Chapter 14

·       New and expanded information about 

o   Brain development during adolescence

o   The condition of schizophrenia

o   Sexual orientation

o   The adolescent birth rate

o   Incidence of STIs and STDs

o   Use of substances

o   Eating disorders

o   Sports-related injuries

o   Sex trafficking

 

 

Chapter 15

·       New topic:

o   Moral foundations theory and cultural differences moral judgments

·       New information about

o   Social  media and the imaginary audience

o   Development of episodic memory

o   Bidirectional effects of executive function and social functioning

o   Positive effects of risk-taking behavior

o   The importance of a sense of belonging in school on academic achievement

 

Chapter 16

·       New topic

o   The dual-cycle model of identity development

·       New and updated information on

o   Identity development of LGBTQ+ adolescents

o   School-based programs for suicide prevention

o   Peer pressure to be online

o   Involvement with AI companions

o   Historical decreases in risky behavior by teens

o   Online identity development

o   Effects of high quality friendships